The country could be nearing the endemic stage of COVID-19 as cases are now on a downward trend and severe and critical infections remain low, the head for Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the San Lazaro Hospital, Dr. Rontgene Solante recently told “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News.
“If you look at the cases, even globally, cases are already trending down, which means that the number of cases for the past week is table. There is no significant increase although there is also no significant decrease but it is trending down to the point that it looks like it is becoming stable,” Solante said as he also noted that the country’s health care utilization rate continues to be stable at less than 50 percent.
“That is the situation for almost two to three months now,” he said of the hospitalization rate for COVID-19.
The medical expert explained: “When you say endemic, the virus is still here with us but is not able to disrupt our livelihood, our mobility and we are able to control where we are headed – is it towards cases going up, or becoming stable, or on a downward trend.”
However, Solante said the country still needs to strengthen its health protocols, including intensifying efforts for vaccination before endemicity sets in, meaning cases remain, but are already low. “There are still people who will get infected. There will still be that population that will develop severe symptoms but comparing with pandemic, the transmission is not that high anymore,” he added.
The world, including the Philippines, may be approaching the home stretch from the pandemic but we still cannot afford to be complacent. The vaccination effort will still need to be boosted and compliance with minimum health protocols will still be necessary in order to speed up our progress towards the endemicity that we have been striving for over the past couple of years.*
